5/22/2020 football Edit

Catching up with ... Mack Gadis

Tom Dienhart • BoilerUpload

GoldandBlack.com, Associate Editor

Mack Gadis led the Boilermakers in assists as a senior.

Mack Gadis was an integral part of the early years of the Gene Keady era. And he keeps close tabs on the program to this day.

"Oh, yes," said Gadis. "I still love Purdue."

Gadis played at Purdue from 1982-86, getting wooed to West Lafayette out of Pike High School in Indianapolis. And he would go on to accomplish a few things no other Boilermaker had before him.

Before Purdue, Gadis enjoyed a decorated career at Pike, playing on the 1982 Indiana All-Star squad after setting school records for assists (290) and steals (268), while tallying 1,181 points. As a junior, Gadis averaged 21.4 points and then 25.1 points as a senior under Hall of Fame coach Ed Siegel, earning all-state honors both years. As a senior, Gadis earned Marion County Player of the Year honors.

At Purdue, Gadis led the Boilermakers in assists as a senior, graduating fifth in program history with 178 assists his final season. He was the first player in program history to play on teams to win 20-plus games for four seasons and play in four NCAA Tournaments. He helped Purdue win the Big Ten title as a sophomore in 1983-84.

Gadis averaged 5.3 points in his Boilermaker tenure, scoring 547 points with 275 assists (2.6 pg). His best season was his last in 1985-86, when Gadis averaged 7.9 points and a team-high 5.6 assists while starting all 32 games for a team that lost in double OT to LSU (in Baton Rouge) in the NCAA Tournament first round.

Gadis was a member of the 2019 Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. class GoldandBlack.com caught up with Gadis.

GoldandBlack.com: Why did you pick Purdue?

Gadis: IU had come in and recruited me. But Knight had said he was gonna take me or Stew Robinson. It came down to whoever committed first. Stew committed. And I really hadn't made a decision yet. He didn't want to overload on the point guard position. Back then, kids from Indiana, if you were being recruited by IU or Purdue, you really didn't go outside the state. That’s not the case now. Kids look out of state now. TV has helped parents still see their kid play no matter where they go to school. Kids really have not stayed home like when I was going to school. Purdue probably would have been my choice when it came down to it.

GoldandBlack.com: Any good memories of Coach Keady?

Gadis: Not sure how many of them can be clean stories. Coach was hard-nosed. I think everyone knew that. He was hard, but he was fair. That’s really all you can ask. He was a lot like my high school coach, Ed Siegel, who recently passed away. He was a no nonsense guy. He just didn't take any crap. It was his way or the highway.

Back then, I can remember practicing after losses. I remember losing at Illinois by like 30. We’re coming back on the bus. And we pull up. We are thinking: We’ll practice tomorrow. But he told us to go suit up and get ready to practice then. I was like 1 a.m. And you know what kind of practice it’s gonna be. It’s not gonna be real instructional. It's gonna be punishment. You knew that going into it. It wasn’t gonna be easy or simple. But at the same time, he was gonna be fair with discipline. If you don’t like someone being on you, this probably isn’t the place for you.

GoldandBlack.com: What are some of your memories of playing at Purdue?

Gadis: I remember the game at Illinois when we came back from about 20 points my freshman year (1982-83). And that was when Keady took out the entire starting lineup. And we came back and (Jim) Rowinski hit that last-second shot. And the IU games are always fond memories. The rivalry was so big, because I knew most of those guys playing at IU. Steve Alford, Stew, Winston Morgan, all those guys. The AAU circuit wasn’t that big back then, so everybody played a lot of local basketball. It was mostly in-state, guys. So you play in the summer and in summer leagues. The rivalry was so big. Going to the NCAA Tournament four straight years back then was almost unheard of. And that's something that we did.

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Mack Gadis was the first player in program history to play on teams to win 20-plus games for four seasons and play in four NCAA Tournaments.

GoldandBlack.com: What about the 1983-84 team your sophomore year?

Gadis: We were co-Big Ten champs with Illinois. That was a very talented basketball team. We weren't picked to finish very high at all. If you remember, that's the year after we lost Russell Cross. He turned pro. That was the year of Jim Rowinski. Everyone thought because we lost Russell, we wouldn’t be that good. That was the year we surprised a lot of people, including ourselves.

GoldandBlack.com: What was it like to play with Rowinski?

Gadis: He was a quiet guy. He was a quiet friendly guy. But when he's on the basketball court, he almost turned into a different individual just from a toughness standpoint. He was just focused. Just a strong, brute of a guy who really didn't throw people around. People more bounced off him.

GoldandBlack.com: Where do you live now?

Gadis: I live in Noblesville. I’m an agent for State Farm insurance. I’ve been an agent since 1997. I’ve been married for 20 years. I have two kids. One is a freshman at Noblesville, Olivia. And Jordan, my son, is a senior at Noblesville. He is trying to pick a college. He has a few basketball offers. He is probably NAIA, Division II level. It’s a tough time to pick a college with what’s going on. Things are virtual or talking over the phone.

GoldandBlack.com: Do you still follow Purdue?

Gadis: Oh, yes. Really close. I was good friends with (current assistant) Brandon Brantley. I knew Matt (Painter) well when he first got there because I was still in Lafayette at the time. I get to Mackey a few times a year. It was tough to go to games when my son was playing.

GoldandBlack.com: Who do you stay in touch with?

Gadis: I stay in touch with Herb Robinson and Tony Jones, even though we didn’t play together.

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